


No title brain sad just finished crisis core cutscenes

by end_alls



Category: Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-14
Updated: 2020-04-14
Packaged: 2021-03-01 22:48:46
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 887
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23644903
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/end_alls/pseuds/end_alls
Summary: me, trying to sleep after watching a bunch of crisis core cutscenes:the rat that lives in my brain: hey what if that one scene in nibelheim was gayer
Relationships: Zack Fair/Cloud Strife
Comments: 9
Kudos: 109





	No title brain sad just finished crisis core cutscenes

“By the way, do you know Tifa?”

Zack heard Cloud shift anxiously on the adjacent bed before he answered. “Sort of,” he said quietly, voice dipping into a place Zack hadn’t heard it go before. The two words were way too weighted to only mean “sort of”.

“Talked to her?” Zack nudged.

“No.”

Zack rose to lean on his elbow, and saw that Cloud had all but curled in on himself—head down, hands clasped around his knees. Was Tifa someone he was trying to escape? Or was it his past? If that was true, he might very well be running forever.

“…I’m sensing some issues here. Shouldn’t you do something?” Cloud didn’t seem like the kind of person to end up like Angeal, but… it would be better to take care of any baggage now, before it got too heavy to bear.

Cloud’s head dropped, hair falling to obscure his face. When he remained silent, Zack sat up to consider him.

“Not that it’s any of my business, but…” he began, “…if you do know her, then she’s probably been wondering if you’re still alive.”

It was too harsh of a way to put it—he knew it as soon as the words were out. Was being drained of all tact a side effect of his SOLDIER promotion? Was he going to end up a monster like all the rest? “I mean—wondering if you’re doing all right,” he corrected. Cloud didn’t move, or raise his head, but Zack could see his shoulders trembling.

Zack rose to his feet, and brought his glove to rest on Cloud’s pauldron. Then, deciding the touch was too impersonal, he shifted his hand to Cloud’s bare arm. He nearly jumped when Cloud’s head rose to look at him, tears making his blue eyes sparkle like mako.

Zack’s throat closed, and he had to clear it before he could speak again. “It’s okay,” he said gently, lamely.

Cloud sniffed, then wiped the sparkling tears away with his glove. Zack opened his mouth as if to protest, but quickly shut it again.

“I’m not like you, Zack,” Cloud mumbled, gaze drifting away from him. “I haven’t done anything to be proud of.”

Zack practically leapt to plant himself on the bed next to Cloud, who shifted his legs to the side to make room. “Cloud, you saved Tifa’s life out there, and didn’t even take credit!” he said, giving Cloud’s knee a gentle shake. “If that’s not something to be proud of, I dunno what is!”

Cloud’s lips quirked in a small smile that vanished as fast as a glint of light off the edge of a sword. “…I’m nothing I promised I’d be.” His eyes fell. “I’m not a hero,” he said, and Zack couldn’t bear how much it sounded like he believed it.

Zack pulled his feet up to reposition himself—it was a little difficult to maneuver on the same bed—raised himself to his knees, and put both gloves on Cloud’s pauldrons. “Hey.”

When Cloud looked up, Zack brought a hand to the nape of his neck, and pressed their foreheads together, closing his eyes the same way he did when he shored himself against the metal of the buster sword. The motion had become something like a prayer in his head. And if he’d been making those prayers to Angeal, then this one was for Cloud. “You’re already a hero, Cloud.”

They lingered there a moment, but just as Zack began to pull away, Cloud’s glove brushed his cheek. Then, two soft lips were matched against his own, there and gone so soon he could have imagined it. But as his eyes drifted open, he saw Cloud drawing back from what had undoubtedly been a kiss.

Cloud’s eyes opened, then widened, before glancing off him entirely like a misfired bullet. “Sorry, I… nevermind.”

Cloud swung his boots over the bed and towards the wall, stood stiffly upright with his back to Zack, then moved as if to make a beeline for the door. He wasn’t getting off that easy.

Zack caught his wrist. “Hey.” Cloud’s eyes found him again, all but flooded with panic. “It’s okay.” Zack realized it was true, and that he was smiling. “There’s nothing to be sorry for.”

The blush that had begun at Cloud’s ears was now making its steady way across his cheeks. “Just—just forget it.” Cloud’s wrist twisted in his grip, but there was no fight in it. Zack let it go anyway. “I shouldn’t have. You’re… SOLDIER, and I’m just…”

“If you think I’m gonna let you keep ragging on yourself, then you’ve got another thing coming,” Zack said, feeling his next smile charged with something lingering on his lips. “Besides, didn’t you hear me? SOLDIER’s full of monsters.”

“…You’re not a monster, Zack.” Cloud’s eyes, in another attempt to avoid him, fell upon the buster sword. “I’ve never even seen you use that.”

It could’ve been a last-ditch attempt to change the subject, but Zack stilled all the same.

Angeal… He’d almost forgotten.

The sword sat there, looking almost warm in the late sunlight through the window. “…That sword is a symbol of my dreams,” Zack said, flashing a grin at Cloud, who, surprisingly, returned it. “And it’s plenty big enough to hold some of yours, too.”

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading I'm on twitter at [toppiegames](https://twitter.com/toppiegames) and I'm about to restart FF7 remake with a recontextualized understanding of the universe and cry a lot
> 
> I'll title this if I can use my brain again later


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